Nexus 6 vs. Zenfone 6 – The Beautiful Beasts Comparison

The Nexus 6 was Google’s first, but not the last phablet. Motorola is the company that was chosen to give it its best shot and to create a phone that could stand out in front of other models. The Nexus 6 is imposing, indeed, but according to some, it’s too big and uncomfortable to hold. A phablet with a similar screen size is the Zenfone 6, which was released last year, as well.

Designs

The Nexus 6 has a curved back made of matte plastic and features a metal frame likewise the Moto X 2014. But its look can’t be customized, which means that the rear panel is fixed, and the two color options are Midnight Blue and Cloud White. The device is water resistant, but Motorola didn’t obtain a certification. The physical dimensions are 159.3x83x10.1mm and the phone is quite heavy at 184 grams.

The Zenfone 6 has a faux metal uni-body design, but in reality, the rear is made of plastic and it can be replaced in case it deteriorates. There are many color options such as Charcoal Black, Pearl White, Cherry Red and Champagne Gold, and below the screen was placed a metal band which gives a premium look. The device is way taller at 166.9mm, but it’s 0.2mm slimmer and 12grams heavier.

Displays

The Nexus 6 is the biggest Nexus smartphone and the screen is AMOLED (built by Samsung), it has a size of 5.96-inch and supports 1440 x 2560 pixels resolution, with 493 ppi.

The Zenfone 6 has an IPS screen which measures exactly 6-inch, but its resolution is disappointing, only 720 x 1280 pixels, resulting in a pixel density of 245 ppi. Therefore, the Zenfone 6 doesn’t have a sharp screen and the colors have a colder tone.

Hardware

The Nexus 6 was one of the most powerful smartphones in 2014, receiving the best 32bit Qualcomm chipset: Snapdragon 805. The processor has four cores running at 2.7GHz, it’s backed by Adreno 420 graphics and 3GB of RAM, but the users are limited to two storage options with capacities of 32 and 64GB, because the device doesn’t have a microSD card slot.

The Zenfone 6 is very weak compared to the Nexus 6, but it has a totally different configuration, containing a 32bit Intel Atom Z2580 chipset with a dual core processor clocked at 2GHz, which couples with PowerVR SGX544MP2 graphics and 2GB of RAM. You will choose between the 16 and the 32GB variant of internal memory and if you consider the capacity too small, you can add a microSD card and get 64GB of storage.

Cameras

The resolutions are identical on both devices: 13MP on the back and 2MP on the front, but the Nexus 6 features OIS, dual-LED flash, photo sphere, dual recording and 2160p video recording, while the Zenfone 6 records at a lower resolution: 1080p@30fps.

Batteries

Both, Motorola and Zenfone, made their devices very thick, in order to accommodate the large batteries, but none of them is removable. Their capacities are similar, but a the Nexus 6 has a slightly smaller unit of 3220 mAh which withstands an entire day under normal usage, while the Zenfone 6 lasts four hours more with its 3300 mAh battery.